Biography - James Cook - Australian Dictionary of Biography Australian Dictionary of Biography Tip: searches only the name field Tip: Use double quotes to search for a phrase This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography , Volume 1, (MUP), 1966 James Cook Captain James Cook RN, 1782, by John Webber, oil on canvas, courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, 2000.25 James Cook (1728-1779), navigator, was born on 27 October 1728 at Marton-in-Cleveland, Yorkshire, England, the son of a Scottish labourer and his Yorkshire wife. He grew up on a farm at Great Ayton, attending the village school, and at 17 was apprenticed to a shopkeeper at Staithes. After eighteen months, with the consent of all concerned, he gave this up for a more enticing apprenticeship of three years under John Walker, a Quaker coal-shipper of Whitby. Here he made some headway with mathematics and navigation and served two years before the mast in the Baltic trade. In 1755 Walker offered him a command, but instead Cook joined H.M.S.

Eagle and within a month was master's mate. After two years on the Channel service, he was promoted master of the Pembroke, and in 1758 crossed the Atlantic in her and took part in the siege of Louisburg and the survey of the St Lawrence River that led to the capture of Quebec. Transferred to the Northumberland, he began surveying the coasts of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, in the winter months at Halifax reading solidly in his chosen subjects. Back in England late in 1762 he married Elizabeth Batts (1742-1832?) of Shadwell, but soon returned to the Newfoundland survey, in 1764 winning his first command in the Grenville. The acquaintance he made here with the future Admiral Sir Hugh Palliser, then governor of Newfoundland and Labrador, the publication of his Newfoundland charts and his observation of a solar eclipse brought him to the attention of the Royal Society and the Admiralty. Although the society recommended Alexander Dalrymple as leader of the expedition to the South Seas to observe the transit of Venus, the Admiralty chose Cook, promoted him from master to lieutenant and gave him command of the Endeavour Bark, 368 tons.

He sailed from Plymouth on 26 August 1768 with a complement of ninety-four, including Joseph Banks and his retinue. By way of Cape Horn, they reached Tahiti on 13 April 1769 and duly made their observations on 3 June, meanwhile charting the islands and collecting natural history specimens. Cook also had secret instructions to determine the existence of a southern continent propounded by geographical philosophers. Accordingly he sailed for New Zealand in August, circumnavigated the islands, charted its coast and took formal possession. This work finished, Cook decided 'to steer to the Westward until we fall in with the E coast of New Holland'. At 6 p.m. on 19 April 1770 Lieutenant Hicks saw land, and a point at the south-east of the Australian mainland was named after him. Cook sailed north, charting the coast and seeking a harbour where the Endeavour's fouled bottom could be scraped. On 29 April he landed at Stingray Bay, where Banks and his naturalists collected such varied specimens that the anchorage was renamed Botany Bay.

After a week they sailed again, making their second landing at Bustard Bay and a third near Cape Townshend. Further north Cook found himself within the Barrier Reef amidst dangerous shoals. Sounding their way and often preceded by the long-boat, they crept north, making two more landings in search of water, but at 10 p.m. on 11 June the Endeavour struck fast on a coral reef at high tide. Ballast, guns and decayed stores were jettisoned; then, two tides later she was hauled off with windlass and anchors, and after three days beached in the Endeavour River. Repairs and gales delayed them for seven weeks but, after rounding and naming Cape York, on 22 August at Possession Island, Cook once more 'hoisted English Coulers' and took possession of the whole eastern coast, later adding the name, New South Wales, in his journal. Satisfied that New Guinea and New Holland were separate islands, he sailed for Batavia, arriving on 11 October. Repairs and refitting delayed his departure until 26 December, and he did not reach England until 13 July 1771.

Not even the modesty of Cook's report could obscure the extent or importance of his achievements. His discoveries, apart from New South Wales, were not new, yet without a chronometer he had charted 5000 miles (8047 km) of coast with unusual accuracy. But he lamented his failure to find the southern continent and pleaded for another opportunity to seek it. He was promoted commander and given charge of an expedition, himself in the Resolution and Tobias Furneaux captain of the Adventure. On this second voyage in 1772-75, Cook circumnavigated the world in high southern latitudes. Its chief importance for Australian discovery was in February and March 1773 when the Adventure, parted from the Resolution by fog and gales, made for the south coast of Van Diemen's Land. Here Furneaux renamed Adventure Bay on Bruny Island, sailed round Tasman Peninsula and up the east coast to Flinders Island, but through bad weather failed to reach Point Hicks before proceeding to rendezvous with the Resolution in New Zealand.

On his third voyage Cook, now post-captain and fellow of the Royal Society, visited Adventure Bay himself on 26 January 1777, on his way to New Zealand and Tahiti. He went on to explore the Pacific coasts of North America and Siberia. In November 1778 he was at the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), where at Kealakekua (Karakakooa) Bay he was killed on 14 February 1779. Cook's strength was his self-confidence. He drove himself as hard as his men yet they followed him loyally, though they sometimes grumbled at his rules of hygiene and at the diet necessary to prevent scurvy, which were singularly successful in preserving the health of his crews. He was also severe on uncompliant natives whom he met on his voyages, and his readiness to use force contributed to his untimely death. His greatest achievements were negative, for they proved where land was not, but his coastal charting set high standards and many of his discoveries helped to create a second British empire. Select Bibliography Historical Records of New South Wales, vol 1 J. C.

Beaglehole (ed), The Journals of Captain James Cook (Cambridge, 1955) J. C. Beaglehole (ed), The Voyage of the Resolution and Adventure (Cambridge, 1961) J. C. Beaglehole, The Exploration of the Pacific (Lond, 1934). Related Entries in NCB Sites BBC - History - Captain James Cook z Portrait of Captain James Cook, by John Webber © Cook was an 18th century explorer and navigator whose achievements in mapping the Pacific, New Zealand and Australia radically changed western perceptions of world geography. As one of the very few men in the 18th century navy to rise through the ranks, Cook was particularly sympathetic to the needs of ordinary sailors. James Cook was born on 27 October 1728 in a small village near Middlesbrough in Yorkshire. His father was a farm worker. At the age of 17, Cook moved to the coast, settling in Whitby and finding work with a coal merchant. In 1755, Cook enlisted in the Royal Navy, serving in North America where he learnt to survey and chart coastal waters.

In 1769, the planet Venus was due to pass in front of the Sun, a rare event visible only in the southern hemisphere. The British government decided to send an expedition to observe the phenomenon. A more secret motive was to search for the fabled southern continent. Cook was chosen as commander of the Whitby-built HMS Endeavour. Those on board included astronomer Charles Green and botanist Joseph Banks. Endeavour arrived in Tahiti in April 1769 where Green was able to observe the transit of Venus. Endeavour continued on to New Zealand, and then sailed along the length of Australia's eastern coast, which had never before been seen by Europeans. Cook claimed it for Britain and named it New South Wales. Cook and his crew then returned home, arriving in July 1771. In 1772, not satisfied by his previous exploits, Cook set out on a second voyage to look for the southern continent. His two ships sailed close to the Antarctic coast but were forced to turn back by the cold. They then visited New Zealand and Tahiti, returning to England in 1775.

Cook's third voyage was to find the North-West Passage that was believed to link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Unable to find the fabled route, Cook took his two ships south and explored the island of Hawaii. Relations with the islanders were soured after the theft of a ship's boat. On 14 February Cook tried to take the local leader hostage. There was a scuffle and Cook was stabbed and killed. Captain Cook Captain Cook James Cook was born on 27 October 1728 at Marton in Yorkshire. A self-educated son of a farm labourer, he first went to sea at the age of 19, working the East Coast coal trade. At 27 he enlisted in the Royal Navy and soon became boatswain on the 60-gun ship Eagle. Four years later he surveyed the St Lawrence River, Newfoundland, in preparation for the capture of Quebec, and for three summers he conducted further surveys of the St Lawrence and the Nova Scotia and Newfoundland coasts. In 1768, Cook began the first of the three great Pacific voyages which would see him chart the whole ocean, from New Zealand to the Arctic, so accurately that his charts can still be used today.

Cook spent over eight and a half years charting previously unknown islands. Cook's ship for his first Pacific voyage was H.M. Bark Endeavour. The aim of the voyage was to observe the passage of Venus over the disc of the Sun from Tahiti and then to search for a "Great Southern Continent" south of Tahiti. Endeavour left Plymouth on 25 August 1768, called at Madeira and Rio de Janeiro and, after rounding Cape Horn, reached Tahiti on 10 April 1769. The transit of Venus was duly recorded on 3 June 1769 and Cook soon began the second part of the voyage. He searched for, and proved, that there was no continent to the south and west of Tahiti, discovered the east coast of New Zealand and charted its coasts, and discovered and charted the east coast of Australia. During this voyage Cook discovered and named Botany Bay (so called because of the many botanists on board Endeavour). But when Cook reached Batavia on 10 October 1770, malaria and dysentery spread among the crew. A number died at Batavia and on the way back to the Cape.

The expedition had been, however, a great success. The second voyage began in 1772. Cook had been promoted to Commander and given two new ships, Resolution and Adventure to replace the dilapidated Endeavour. Cook took a copy of John Harrison's prize-winning marine chronometer, H4, made by Larcum Kendall, which, following a successful voyage, he called "my trusty friend the watch". In January 1773, Cook became the first navigator to cross the Antarctic circle and soon proved that no continent existed in the Southern Ocean above polar latitudes. During this voyage, Cook landed at New Zealand, Tahiti, the Friendly Islands (Tonga), Easter Island, the Marquesas Islands, the New Hebrides, New Caledonia, the Isle of Pines and the South Sandwich Islands. Artist William Hodges, who accompanied the voyage, captured the beauty of the newly-discovered islands in his famous paintings. The object of the third voyage was to search for a 'North-East or North-West Passage. from the Pacific Ocean into the Atlantic Ocean'. From the start of the voyage there were problems. Cook's ships. Resolution and Discovery, had been badly refitted and defects occurred during the voyage.

Cook's crew searched to the edge of the Arctic ice without finding a northern passage into the Atlantic, explored and charted the northern Pacific coasts and discovered the islands of the Sandwich Group in the North Pacific Ocean, including Hawaii. Upon going ashore at Hawaii, Cook was baffled by the great ceremony which greeted his arrival. He did not realise that he was being accepted as a Polynesian god, whose return to the island bringing gifts was prophesied in Polynesian legends. Priests and chiefs called upon the islanders to make contributions, putting a heavy strain on their resources. By the time the two ships sailed again on 4 February 1779, their departure was hailed with relief. It was a tragic twist of fate that forced them to return two days later after Resolution had sprung her foremast. This time the natives were hostile. On 14 February 1779 a ship's boat was stolen by the islanders, forcing Cook ashore to bring a chief off the island as a hostage for its return. A large group of natives gathered with weapons to resist the arrest of their chief. Upon attack, Cook fired his musket but the shot bounced harmlessly off a warrior's armour.

Cook was overwhelmed and stabbed to death . Antarctic Explorers: James Cook 1728-1779 James Cook was born in the Yorkshire village of Marton on October 27, 1728. His first experience at sea came at the age of 18 when he signed on as a deckhand aboard a Whitby collier carrying coal to London. He became an accomplished mathematician in his spare time and was actually offered a command of his own ship but refused and joined the Royal Navy as a seaman. His talents were soon recognized and after two years he became master of his own ship, the PEMBROKE, and was ordered to chart the waters of the St. Lawrence River in Canada. His work was masterful and the Admiralty recalled him to England and placed him in command of the ENDEAVOUR which was to take a number of scientists to the Pacific Ocean for observance of Venus. The ENDEAVOUR departed England in 1768 and after visiting Tahiti the following year he discovered New Zealand and claimed it for Great Britain. Sailing west, in 1770 he sighted the east coast of Australia.

From here he sailed north and on August 22 he claimed the whole of eastern Australia as a British possession. The ENDEAVOUR returned to England in 1771 having added significantly to Britain's potential empire in the Pacific. One question remained...whether the unexplored part of the southern hemisphere can only be an immense mass of water or possibly contain another continent. Such speculative geography was a question which had engaged the attention not only of learned men, but of most of the maritime powers of Europe. The British Admiralty decided it was time to find out once and for all. The Admiralty promoted Cook to Commander and was told to prepare for his second voyage. He was instructed to travel south to find Bouvet's Cape Circumcision and determine whether or not it was part of the imagined continent. If so, he was to "take possession of convenient situations in the country in the name of the King of Great Britain". If not part of a continent, then he was to sail as far south as possible, circumnavigate the area and sail north whenever weather and ice made exploration impossible. RESOLUTION and ADVENTURE, June 1772 The Admiralty outfitted the newly purchased Resolution and Adventure with the Resolution being Cook's flagship.

The RESOLUTION was only 110 feet long and 35 feet across the beam. The ADVENTURE was even smaller. With little ceremony the two tiny ships set sail from Plymouth Sound at 6:00 am on July 13, 1772 faced with a three year voyage. The two ships arrived at Cape Town, South Africa, some 109 days later. Cook soon learned of a voyage to the Indian Ocean by a Frenchman named Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Tremarec and of his discovery of land there which he called LA FRANCE AUSTRALE. It was important news as Cook determined this, like Bouvet's Cape Circumcision, could prove an existence of a southern continent. On November 23, 1772, Cook sailed out of Cape Town heading into the unknown waters to the south. On December 11 the crew of the ADVENTURE thought they found it. What they actually sighted was an iceberg and by the following day they found themselves at the edge of an endless pack of ice. On January 17, 1773, the ships most likely became the first to cross the Antarctic Circle.

For two months Cook sailed alongside the pack, looking for an entrance to travel further south. Cape Circumcision was not to be found where reported and since he was well south of Kerguelen's discovery Cook determined that Kerguelen's La France Australe could not be part of a southern continent either. With the onset of winter, Cook sailed north and reached Dusky Sound, on the South Island of New Zealand, on March 25 after sailing some 10,600 miles through uncharted waters. He spent the winter exploring the islands of the South Pacific. During a storm Cook became separated from the ADVENTURE but, nevertheless, sailed south once again on November 27. He once again reached the ice pack, in mid December, and continued his search for a way through to the south. Cook's skill as a seaman and navigator cannot be challenged...through heavy storms and dangerous seas filled with huge icebergs the RESOLUTION survived without the loss of a single man. On January 30 he reached his furthest south but could go no further.

The ice "extended east and west far beyond the reach of our sight, while the southern half of the horizon was illuminated by rays of light which were reflected from the ice to a considerable height...It was indeed my opinion that this ice extends quite to the Pole, or perhaps joins to some land to which it has been fixed since creation". Cook once again wintered in New Zealand, leaving in November 1774 on his third voyage. He sailed across the south Pacific and arrived five weeks later at Tierra del Fuego. He remained for two weeks and then left in a northeasterly direction into the Atlantic. Unexpectedly, they sighted land and immediately thought they had finally found the southern continent but instead it was an island, covered in ice, which he named South Georgia. Although his intentions were to continue to England, his temptation to the south could not be resisted and at the end of January he sighted a group of islands even more desolate than South Georgia. These he named the South Sandwich Islands. After a week of exploration in them, he turned north for England, reaching England on July 30, 1775. The voyage lasted three years and eight days covering more than 60,000 miles.

Cook had proved there was no southern continent unless it was at the pole itself. Cook's reputation was unchallenged and with his conclusion one can assume that all further exploration would have been unnecessary except for one detail...he kept thorough records of his sailing. Although governments were to turn their attentions elsewhere for exploration, the owners of whaling fleets in Europe and America were drawn to the southern waters by the constant mention in his journals of large numbers of seals and whales encountered during the voyages. Thus it was they, not the explorers, who now prepared themselves for exploration into the Antarctic waters. RESOLUTION and DISCOVERY at Kerguelen Islands Cook was promoted again after returning from his second voyage in 1775. He accepted his appointment as Fourth Captain at Greenwich Hospital but with conditions; at 46 years of age he was not ready for this form of retirement so if his country were to call him for more active service or if he felt he could be of an essential service to the public, then he would quit the position. It didn't take long.

The RESOLUTION, now under command of Captain Clerke, was to sail to Tahiti to return a native who had been brought back to England by Tobias Furneaux on the ADVENTURE when it lost contact with Cook's RESOLUTION in the New Zealand storm of 1773. The ADVENTURE was unseaworthy and Cook was asked in early 1776 to find a replacement to accompany the RESOLUTION on the voyage. He recommended another Yorkshire collier, which the Admiralty accepted, renamed it the DISCOVERY and promptly decided to take command of the expedition. Cook took command, once again, of the RESOLUTION while Clerke was in command of the DISCOVERY. The voyage was to be another sailing of exploration to the Pacific. However, this time the route was to be different. Known in England as the Northwest Passage, the route to the Pacific from the Atlantic could only be suspected as all 50 previous attempts at the passage had failed. Discovery of this northerly route to Asia could be significantly quicker than the hazardous route around Cape Horn.

Since Cook needed to call at Tahiti, he decided to enter the Pacific from the Indian Ocean, in the process giving him an opportunity to investigate the land discovered by Kerguélen-Tremarec. Cook and the RESOLUTION left Plymouth on July 12, 1776 with Clerke following a few weeks later in the DISCOVERY. A leaking RESOLUTION arrived in Cape Town on October 18 with the DISCOVERY arriving on the 10th of November. Together they left on November 30th steering southeast in an attempt to locate a group of islands discovered some years earlier by Marion du Fresne. On December 12 they spotted the first of the islands whereby Cook promptly named them the Prince Edward Islands. Continuing further south, on December 24 they saw land exactly where they expected it to be. The land was an islet off the northwest point of Kerguélen's LA FRANCE AUSTRALE which they encountered later that day. The following day they entered a large bay and anchored near a sandy beach.

Crew members went ashore and one of them found a bottle with a note in it containing an inscription in Latin recording the French visits in 1772 and 1773. Cook wrote of his own visit on the same parchment, placed it back in the bottle together with a silver coin and buried it again. Cook spent four days exploring the island and coastline. While unimpressed due to the lack of trees, shrubs and little grass, there nevertheless was a good supply of fresh water. Cook called them the "Islands of Desolation" although they are known today as the Îsles Kerguélen. On December 30, 1776, Cook and Clerke sailed away from the island for New Zealand. This was Cook's last contact with the Antarctic region. Cook was advised to wait until the summer of 1778 before starting his search for the Northwest Passage. On January 18, 1778, Cook made his last great discovery...the Hawaiian Islands. For the following month, the two ships sailed north up the west coast of America. Several unsuccessful attempts to locate the passage were tried along the coasts of Canada and Alaska.

After sailing through the Bering Strait and crossing the Arctic Circle, Cook abandoned his search and turned both ships south for the Hawaiian Islands. They reached the islands at the end of November and in the middle of January, 1779, Cook anchored at Kealakekua Bay where he was greeted by thousands of cheering natives. Upon returning to his ship on February 10, Cook discovered a native had stolen one of their boats. Cook went ashore on the 14th with a squad of marines to take the king back to the ship as a hostage. The king was even willing to go but when they reached the water's edge, a large group of natives stopped them and urged the king not to go. Up the shoreline, a chief was killed while trying to leave the beach and suddenly the mood became very hostile. A native approached Cook in a threatening manner and Cook fired at him. The natives attacked and the marines fired back with guns and bayonets. The battle only lasted a few minutes but when it was over, Cook lay dead on the beach.

Ham Radio QSL Card: My Confirmed 2-Way Radio Contact With Kerguelen <MAP NAME="boxmap-p16"><AREA SHAPE="RECT" COORDS="10, 322, 100, 329" HREF="" target=main><AREA COORDS="0,0,10000,10000" HREF="" target=main></MAP><img src="" width="468" height="336" border="0" usemap="#boxmap-p16" alt="Shop at Amazon.com"> BIBLIOGRAPHY Antarctica; the Extraordinary History of Man's Conquest of the Frozen Continent, published by Reader's Digest, second edition. The Life of Captain James Cook, by J.C. Beaglehole. Captain Cook Country- Land of Discovery Captain Cook Country Activities Corner Historic coastline and heather moorland - the beautiful North Yorkshire countryside of Captain Cookï¿½s early life is being discovered by visitors from across the world.

This land of contrasts stretches from the historic port of Whitby, with its ancient clifftop abbey, north along miles of unspoiled rugged coastline to the seaside resorts of Saltburn and Redcar and onto the Tees River and Cookï¿½s birthplace at Marton in Middlesbrough. Inland across the dramatic North York Moors Captain Cook Country takes in quiet market towns and peaceful villages leading back to Whitby along the valley of the River Esk. Follow in the footsteps of the young James Cook and take in the visual splendour of the beautiful and often breathtaking North Yorkshire and Cleveland coast and countryside along the Cook Country Tour. For schools and researchers the history section offers a simple history of Captain James Cook's life and voyages with links to other useful related sites. THE LAND OF “OZ” AUSTRALASIA DISCOVERED! Capt. James Cook was one of the greatest navigators of all time. Voyaging back and forth across the Pacific and the southern hemisphere - whose land masses had been the subject of hazy conjectures based on a smattering of known fact - Cook became the first to chart the coasts of New Zealand, much of Australia and many remote islands.

By the time of his death at the hands of Hawaii natives , he had done more than win a unique reputation as a meticulous explorer: he had laid the foundations of Britain’s Pacific Empire. 1770 Australia 6th May Contemplating the profusion of plants and trees from their ship, The Endeavour, Captain James Cook and his expedition promptly named the place “ Botany Bay ”. They then noticed a party of natives cooking over a fire and ignoring the pale faced strangers. But when Cook attempted to land they threatened him with strange curved throwing sticks which returned to the thrower after striking the target. Cook eventually effected a landing some distance from the hostile natives and hoisted the Union Flag to claim the territory for Great Britain. 1770 Portsmouth, England After three years sailing round the world, HMS Endeavour has come home. The crew of sailors and scientists under Captain James Cook, searching for the great southern continent visited Tahiti , discovered New Zealand and mapped the east coast of Australia, the first Europeans to see it. They reached Tahiti via Cape Horn in April 1769.

There they found an innocent Arcadia , the people the epitome of Jean- Jaques Rousseau’s ‘Noble Savage’ “upon the Whole” wrote Cook “These people seem to enjoy liberty in its fullest extent”. When the crew sailed off three months later, leaving behind a respect for private property and several cases of venereal disease, the islanders begged them to stay. From Tahiti the Endeavour sailed south reaching New Zealand in September. Seven months later on 19th April 1770. They sighted Australia. The crew’s first hint of land had come three days earlier when they sighted a butterfly. CAPTAIN JAMES COOK Cook made his way up the eastern coast to a natural anchorage “the country rose this morning in gentle sloping hills which have the appearance of the highest fertility, every hill seemed clothed with trees of no mean size” wrote Joseph Banks the ship’s chief scientist. So verdant was the coast line, the crew called the anchorage Botany Bay. There is an inlet on the Pacific ocean, a few miles south of Sydney.

Around its shores stands the apparatus of modern suburbia, factories, an oil refinery, broad streets, tidy bungalows, this is Botany Bay where Englishmen first set foot in Australia. Behind it the scorching horizons of the Australian bush stretch 3000 miles to the west. Beyond the ocean 1500 miles to the east stand the mountains of New Zealand. Today across both these lands of the Antipodes flags of the Commonwealth Associations fly, and beyond again are galaxies of islands, dots on the blue Pacific whose names speak links with England, Scotland and Ireland. James Cook is one of the most closely documented figures of British History. He kept his own voluminous journals in which he objectively and modestly recorded his epic achievements. He was born on October 27th, 1728 in the village of Marton in Yorkshire. His father had risen from farm hand to bailiff and the son had nothing of the sea, still less the far Pacific in his sober Yorkshire head. His early maritime experience was gained on the colliers steaming out of Whitby with their sturdy capacious holds and shallow draught journeying up and down the North Sea Coast of England.

Off watch aboard his vessel, he supplemented practise with theory sweating ove rthe mathematics of navigation in the dim light of the crew’s quarters. Young Cook had ambitions beyond the life he led and the times were filled with interest and opportunity. IMPERIALISM REACHES THE OUTER LIMITS In effect a deep change was taking place in the balance of imperial power, the older, smaller nations, Portugal and Holland were dropping our of the race for maritime supremacy and a rivalry on a greater scale was appearing. France, gripped by a now eager expansionism was combining with the declining, but still massive empire of Spain to present a formidable challenge to England and her colonies. By 1755 the Royal Navy was mobilising again, the Press Gangs were combing the ports to kidnap young men for active service . Amid the rising excitement, Cook joined the navy as a volunteer “having a mind to try his fortune”. His timing was good. To his employers he showed much promise but promotion was slow since no man was eligible for a commission until he had served 6 years. However he was made master first of the Solebay, then of the Pembroke, a sixty four gun ship of the line.

He was responsible for navigating and conning the ship. He was heavily involved in the capture of Quebec and surveying the treacherous reaches of the St. Lawrence River. He became a much consulted man; Wolfe himself, sought his advice. He was then commissioned to survey the Gulf of the St. Lawrence and also Newfoundland. From very early times geographers had held, that the southern half of the world lay as a vast continent the size of Europe and Asia combined. Its existence seemed necessary to balance the weight of the land masses, of the northern hemisphere and was though to cover the whole southern surface of the earth and front onto all the adjacent oceans, the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Indian. But the people of antiquity believed they could never get there for it was an article of faith that anyone who sailed to the underside of the globe would be ‘fried’ by the tropical sun as he crossed the equator. Indeed in the early middle ages, Marco Polo’s text spoke of ‘a golden province to which come few foreigners because of the inhumanity of the people”. From the 16th century on, spasmodic reports from pioneers in the Pacific, seemed to imply that the great southern continent was more than a travellers legend.

By the time of Cook’s youth the enthusiasm for the land mass of the south, fanned by increasing imperial competition, was reaching fever pitch. As yet the Pacific was too vast and too far from Europe for a systematic exploration but with the end of the seven years war in 1763, there was time and energy to set about the great ocean in earnest. By 1766 the race was on and Samuel Wallis and Philip Carteret were searching for Terra Australis for Britain. The next year the ‘Chevalier de Bouganville’ followed for France. Carteret found Pitcairn Islands; both Wallis and de Bougainville rediscovered Tahiti and de Bouganville sighted North Eastern Australia. In 1769 the celestial path of Venus would bring it between the Sun and the Earth. The Royal Society were very anxious, that this should be observed from several different points, including one in the Pacific and the Admiralty seizing the chance agreed to send a ship for the purpose. The Admiralty’s choice of leader for this expedition was Cook. Cook urged that he be given, not a warship, but a humble Whitby collier of the type he knew so well.

Since there was a perfect example of this type of ship lying in the Thames it was purchased , renamed Endeavour and fitted out to the specifications provided by Cook himself. But meanwhile, the Royal Society appointed a chief scientist for the trip, a young man called Joseph Banks. Between the rich, sporting youthful Banks an the level headed professional Cook, now a lieutenant, there was every reason for difference, but as it happened they became close professional colleagues and lifelong friends. Cook’s precise instructions were drafted into two separate parts. The first dealt with the ‘transit of Venus’. He was to sail via Cape Horn to Tahiti, and there supervise the observations. Al this was for public consumption. The second part was secret. His business at Tahiti finished, he was ordered to head south for 1500 miles, at which latitude 40 degrees South, there is , his instructions read, reason to believe ‘a continent of land may be found’. He was there, to establish friendship and alliance with the inhabitants, and with their consent, possess the country in the King’s name. If he found no continent, he was to turn west and investigate the land known as New Zealand.

He was to come home via the Horn or the Cape of Good Hope at his discretion. The tiny 370 ton Endeavour was about to venture into an arena of a size and grandeur that still challenges comprehension. The Pacific stretched 10,000 miles from China to the Americas, and 9,000 miles between the wastes that from the approaches to both poles. Large areas of it are subject to almost perpetual equatorial calms; others to unceasing single directional wind; others to overwhelming hurricanes and typhoons. Majestic currents, sweeping for thousands of miles furrow its depths. Three main races, of who's customs little was known, dominated the island necklaces; the brown skinned Polynesians , once masters of the sea who’s great canoe voyages carried them from Tahiti to Hawaii and established the Maoris of New Zealand; the darker Negroid Melanesians, mask wearers and head- hunters; the Micronesians of mixed Negro and Mongolian stock, with a strong infusion of Malay characteristics.

Due to its extreme proximity from Europe, there were a great many unknowns about Australia and in search of the truth the Endeavour left Plymouth on August 25th 1768 with 94 men who would pit the reasoned outlook of the 18th century against a void of over one third of the earths surface. After a stay of some seven weeks in Tahiti, for the purpose of doing scientific research and observing the astronomical event, involving an eclipse of the Sun by Venus, the Endeavour weighed anchor on July 13th and headed for the underside of the globe. As the Endeavour proceeded southward the journey yielded no land and the long swells told Cook there could be none for far ahead. Reaching the limit of his orders, latitude 40 , and mounting seas he turned west for Tasman’s New Zealand. On October 7th 1769, after five more weeks of tumbling empty seas, a headland was sighted and was dubbed ‘Young Nick’s Head’ in honour of the junior sailor who first observed it. Slowly Cook circled New Zealand’s north island counter clockwise surveying and charting as he went.

He could do little ashore for the Maoris were hostile. The moving through the Strait that now bears his name, Cook passed round the south island continuing his patient recording. After 6 months his circuit of New Zealand was complete and he knew it was not a continent. The British flag now flew over New Zealand and the crew were looking forward to a speedy return to England But Cook was deliberately careful, should he go home via Cape Horn on the extreme tip of South America or by the Cape of good Hope? A passage to the Horn in the far south would probably reveal whether the southern continent existed elsewhere in the Pacific but the ship was worn and the victuals low. On the other hand to go via the Cape of Good Hope offered an opportunity to explore the unknown east coast of Australia on the way. He decided on the Cape of Good Hope round southern Africa. So after a three week sail through calm water Hicks Point on the Australian coast was spotted and the Endeavour began her greatest discovery. Cruising northwards Cook found no harbour for a week. Then a bay opened and he nosed his way gently in. Here the 18th century came face to face with stone age aborigines to the bewilderment of both.

(Continued below contents table) A thousand miles of meticulous recording as he moved on up the coast, and then disaster struck as the Endeavour was caught in the Great Barrier Reef and ran aground. The crew were now longing to get home. Cook keeping a level head directed the operation of jettisoning all inessential equipment until the ship refloated and he put in for repairs at a convenient inlet. His ships carpenters did an excellent job in making the Endeavour seaworthy again. Cook was determined to solve the question of the Torres Strait. He had revolutionised exploration. Till then it had been a storm- tossed adventure. He had turned it nto a controlled methodical science and when he at last sighted the English coast on July 10th 1771, his crew, although diminished by tropical disease still remained free from scurvy and Banks and his team had in their packing cases, 1300 new plants a massive contribution to the late 18th century explosion of information. Land had been explored and claimed for Britain in the Antipodes but both Australia and New Zealand were primitive territories, not the great and perhaps highly developed continent of expectation.

Banks finding the place a naturalist’s paradise called it Botany Bay. The landscape around Cook delighted him “it can never be doubted that most sorts of grain, fruit, roots etc. would flourish were they once brought hither planted and cultivated, and here are provender for more cattle than can ever be brought into the country. It reminded him of Glamorgan shire and he named it New South Wales. Tacking gingerly with boats out ahead among the fearsome reefs around Cape York, the northern most tip of Australia, he at length found open water. He had he said settled a doubtful point. Before sailing away, he held a little ceremony to take formal possession of Australia. The flag was ran up onshore to a brisk rattle of musketry. Then with parts of the ships bottom so worn that they were no thicker than the sole of a shoe, Cook limped into Jakarta for refit. COOK FINALLY GETS HIS COVETED MISSION Captain James Cook Captain James Cook Logout Captain James Cook was an interesting explorer who made three voyages across the Southern Hemisphere sponsored by Great Britain. He was most famous for his mapping and charting skills, crossing the Antarctic Circle, and learning how to prevent scurvy.

I hope you enjoy learning about his life! Birth of Captain Cook He was born in Marton in Yorkshire, England. His dad was named James Cook, and his mom was Grace Pace. Captain Cook had 6 brothers and sisters. Death of Captain Cook When he landed on present-day Hawaii, he named it the Sandwich Islands, after his best mate, Erick Sandwich. During a battle with the locals he was clubbed to death. Start of First Voyage On his first voyage on the ship Endeavour, his main goal was to see the Transit of Venus. He was successful in seeing Venus cross the Sun. Another big success was him being the first person to prevented his crew from getting scurvy. Cook heard that eating fruits helped stop scurvy and made them eat different fruits whether or not they liked it. His third big accomplishment was him mapping and sailing to Australia. While there he did get stuck in the Great Barrier Reef but was able to continue. Start of Second Voyage On his second voyage he crossed the Antarctic Circle, he was trying to discover if there was another continent at the south pole. He also updated all the charts and maps for that area. On his ships he had many scientists to help him.

Start of Third Voyage In Cook's third, and final, voyage he set out on the ship Resolution in search of the Northwest Passage. Cook was the first person to reach the Bering Strait, what separates Siberia Russia and Alaska, the farthest western point of North America. In the winter Cook had to give up on looking for the Northwest Passage because his boat would get stuck in the ice. He went south and faced his biggest challenge back in the Hawaiian islands. He ended up getting killed by local tribesmen. First time at sea He was at age 15 when he started sailing on a collier, that trip ended when he was 19. He sailed in the coal trade. The collier almost crashed a number of times because of sunken rocks, iceburgs, and sandpits. War The war was called the Seven Years War. In 1757, Cook was a master of a 64 gun war ship. He learned how to survey from an army engineer and then he asked the captain if he could do the survey's by himself. Married Elizabeth Batts Cook had been gone for 4 years, he was 34 and he married 22-year old Elizabeth Batts.

They were married in 6 weeks. When Cook was gone Elizabeth Batts gave birth to 2 boys ones name is James, the other one is Nathaniel. He had 5 kids but only 2 survived, James and Nathaniel. End of First Voyage One problem Cook faced was having 30 crew members die from of Malaria. I think that Cook's first voyage was successful because he accomplished his goal of seeing the Transit of Venus, he also had other discoveries, and made it home safely. He was the most famous explorer in Australian history. End of Second Voyage A challenge that Cook faced was that the two ships got separated twice. I think that Cook's second voyage was successful because his ship (the Resolution) was the first to cross the Antarctic. The other ship (the Adventure) was the first to sail around the world east to west. Search Captain James Cook - Whitby Whitby Captain James Cook’s Portrait Captain James Cook Captain James Cook, RN was an English explorer, navigator and cartographer. He made three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, accurately charting many areas and recording several islands and coastlines on European maps for the first time.

His most notable accomplishments were the British discovery and claiming of the east coast of Australia; the European discovery of the Hawaiian Islands; and the first circumnavigation and mapping of Newfoundland and New Zealand. Early Life Cook was born in relatively humble circumstances in the village of Marton in Yorkshire, today a suburb belonging to the town of Middlesbrough. He was baptised in the local church of St. Cuthbert’s where today his name can be seen in the church register. Cook was one of five children of James Cook, a Scottish farm labourer, and his locally born wife Grace Pace. In 1736, his family moved to Airey Holme farm at Great Ayton, where his father’s employer, Thomas Skottowe paid for him to attend the local school. In 1741, after 5 years schooling, he began work for his father, who had by now been promoted to farm manager. When he had time off from the farm, he’d take himself off up nearby Roseberry Topping, climbing which gave him his first taste for adventure and exploration which was to stay with him for life.

In 1745, when he was 16, Cook moved 20 miles to the fishing village of Staithes to be apprenticed in a grocery/haberdashery business, where he first felt the lure of the sea while gazing out of the shop window. Mud banks on the Esk at Whitby Merchant Navy After 18 months, not proving suitable for shop work, his boss William Sanderson took Cook to the nearby port town of Whitby and introduced him to John and Henry Walker. The Walkers were prominent local ship-owners and Quakers, and were in the coal trade. Their house is now the Captain Cook Memorial Museum. Cook was taken on as a merchant navy apprentice in their small fleet of vessels plying coal along the English coast. His first assignment was aboard the collier Freelove, and he spent several years on this and various other coasters sailing between the Tyne and London. His three-year apprenticeship completed, Cook began working on trading ships in the Baltic Sea. He soon progressed through the merchant navy ranks, starting with his 1752 promotion to Mate (officer in charge of navigation) aboard the collier brig Friendship.

In 1755, within a month of being offered command of this vessel, he volunteered for service in the Royal Navy, as Britain was re-arming for what was to become the Seven Years’ War. Despite the need to start back at the bottom of the naval hierarchy, Cook realised his career would advance more quickly in military service. Captain Cooks Newfoundland Royal Navy On 7 June 1755 Cook volunteered to join the Royal Navy at Wapping, sensing an imminent war was approaching. His first posting was with HMS Eagle under Hugh Palliser, sailing with the ship in March of 1756 with the rank of boatswain. Within two years of joining the Royal Navy Cook passed his master’s examinations at Trinity House, Deptford qualifying him to navigate and handle a ship of the King’s fleet. He then joined the frigate HMS Solebay as master under Captain Robert Craig. He showed a talent for surveying and cartography and was responsible for mapping much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege, allowing General Wolfe to make his famous stealth attack on the Plains of Abraham. Cook’s surveying skills were put to good use in the 1760s, mapping the jagged coast of Newfoundland.

Cook surveyed the northwest stretch in 1763 and 1764, the south coast between the Burin Peninsula and Cape Ray in 1765 and 1766, and the west coast in 1767. Cook’s five seasons in Newfoundland produced the first large-scale and accurate maps of the island’s coasts; they also gave Cook his mastery of practical surveying and brought him to the attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society. Endeavour moored at Whitby HMS Endeavour In 1766, the Royal Society hired Cook to travel to the Pacific Ocean to observe and record the transit of Venus across the Sun. He sailed in the HMS Endeavour from England in 1768, rounded Cape Horn and continued westward across the Pacific to arrive at Tahiti on 13 April 1769, where the observations were to be made. Cook later mapped the complete New Zealand coastline, making only some minor errors. He then sailed west, reaching the south-eastern coast of the Australian continent on 19 April 1770, and in doing so his expedition became the first recorded Europeans to have encountered its eastern coastline.

On 23 April he made his first recorded direct observation of indigenous Australians at Brush Island near Bawley Point. On 29 April Cook and crew made their first landfall on the mainland of the continent at a place now known as the Kurnell Peninsula, which he named Botany Bay after the unique specimens retrieved by the botanists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander. After his departure from Botany Bay he continued northwards, and a mishap occurred when Endeavour ran aground on a shoal of the Great Barrier Reef, on 11 June. The ship was badly damaged and his voyage was delayed almost seven weeks while repairs were carried out on the beach at the mouth of the Endeavour River. Once repairs were complete the voyage continued, sailing through Torres Strait and on 22 August he landed on Possession Island, where he claimed the entire coastline he had just explored as British territory. He returned to England via the Cape of Good Hope and Saint Helena, arriving on 12 July 1771. Captain James Cooks Sea Routes HMS Resolution In 1766, the Royal Society hired Cook to travel to the Pacific Ocean to observe and record the transit of Venus across the Sun.

He sailed in the HMS Endeavour from England in 1768, rounded Cape Horn and continued westward across the Pacific to arrive at Tahiti on 13 April 1769, where the observations were to be made. Cook later mapped the complete New Zealand coastline, making only some minor errors. He then sailed west, reaching the south-eastern coast of the Australian continent on 19 April 1770, and in doing so his expedition became the first recorded Europeans to have encountered its eastern coastline. On 23 April he made his first recorded direct observation of indigenous Australians at Brush Island near Bawley Point. On 29 April Cook and crew made their first landfall on the mainland of the continent at a place now known as the Kurnell Peninsula, which he named Botany Bay after the unique specimens retrieved by the botanists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander. After his departure from Botany Bay he continued northwards, and a mishap occurred when Endeavour ran aground on a shoal of the Great Barrier Reef, on 11 June. The ship was badly damaged and his voyage was delayed almost seven weeks while repairs were carried out on the beach at the mouth of the Endeavour River.

Once repairs were complete the voyage continued, sailing through Torres Strait and on 22 August he landed on Possession Island, where he claimed the entire coastline he had just explored as British territory. He returned to England via the Cape of Good Hope and Saint Helena, arriving on 12 July 1771. Captain Cook Whitby Third Voyage On his last voyage, Cook once again commanded HMS Resolution, while Captain Charles Clerke commanded HMS Discovery. Ostensibly the voyage was planned to return Omai to Tahiti; this is what the general public believed, as he had become a favourite curiosity in London. Principally the purpose of the voyage was an attempt to discover the famed Northwest Passage. After returning Omai, Cook travelled north and in returning from forays on the Alaskan coast (see below) in 1778 became the first European to visit the Hawaiian Islands. In passing and after initial landfall in January 1778 at Waimea harbour, Kauai, Cook named the archipelago the “Sandwich Islands” after the fourth Earl of Sandwich, the acting First Lord of the Admiralty.

From the South Pacific he travelled northeast to explore the west coast of North America, landing near the First Nations village at Yuquot in Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island, although he unknowingly sailed past the Strait of Juan de Fuca. He explored and mapped the coast from California all the way to the Bering Strait, on the way identifying what came to be known as Cook Inlet in Alaska. It has been said that, in a single visit, Cook charted the majority of the North American northwest coastline on world maps for the first time, determined the extent of Alaska and closed the gaps in Russian (from the West) and Spanish (from the South) exploratory probes of the Northern limits of the Pacific. The Bering Strait proved to be impassable, although he made several attempts to sail through it. He became increasingly frustrated on this voyage, and perhaps began to suffer from a stomach ailment; it has been speculated that this led to irrational behaviour towards his crew, such as forcing them to eat walrus meat, which they found inedible. Cook returned to Hawai`i in 1779.

After sailing around the archipelago for some eight weeks, he made landfall at Kealakekua Bay, on ‘Hawai`i Island’, largest island in the Hawaiian Archipelago. Captain James Cook Plaque Death of James Cook After a month’s stay, Cook got under sail again to resume his exploration of the Northern Pacific. However, shortly after leaving Hawai`i Island, the foremast of the Resolution broke and the ships returned to Kealakekua Bay for repairs. On 14 February at Kealakekua Bay, some Hawaiians took one of Cook’s small boats. Normally, as thefts were quite common in Tahiti and the other islands, Cook would have taken hostages until the stolen articles were returned. Indeed, he attempted to take hostage the King of Hawai`i, Kalaniopu`u. The Hawaiians prevented this, and Cook’s men had to retreat to the beach. As Cook turned his back to help launch the boats, he was struck on the head by the villagers and then stabbed to death as he fell on his face in the surf. The Hawaiians dragged his body away.

The esteem in which he was nevertheless held by the Hawaiians resulted in his body being retained by their chiefs and elders. Following the practice of the time, Cook’s body underwent funerary rituals similar to those reserved for the chiefs and highest elders of the society. The body was disemboweled, baked to facilitate removal of the flesh, and the bones were carefully cleaned for preservation as religious icons in a fashion somewhat reminiscent of the treatment of European saints in the Middle Ages. Some of Cook’s remains, disclosing some corroborating evidence to this effect, were eventually returned to the British for a formal burial at sea following an appeal by the crew.

Question: Who was the first Yorkshire captain to go to Australia
Answer: Captain James Cook